ZCZC
BSS-18
DAY-ASAD-LEAD
Shaheed Asad Day tomorrow
DHAKA, Jan 19, 2019 (BSS) – The nation is all set to recall the great
sacrifice of student leader Shaheed Asaduzzaman Asad on the occasion of his
50th martyrdom anniversary tomorrow.
On January 20 in 1969, Asad, the hero of the 1969 mass upsurge, was gunned
down by the Pakistani police on a protest rally near Dhaka Medical College
and Hospital (DMCH) against the atrocities on the people of East Pakistan.
The death of Asad, then a master’s student of Dhaka University (DU), took
the mass upsurge to the highest peak which hastened the fall of the then
military dictator Field Marshal Ayub Khan after over a decade of his iron
rule.
President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate
messages paying tributes to the memory of Shaheed Asad on the occasion.
Recalling his contribution to the gearing up the mass movement in 1969
with due respect, both the head of the state and the head of the government
prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul of Shaheed Asad.
In his message, President M Abdul Hamid said the sacrifice of Asad in the
1969 mass upsurge had added a new dimension to the aspiration of Bengalis
emancipation.
With the demand for independence and own state, the country’s people
irrespective of class and profession took to the street braving the fear of
jail and the movement turned into a mass upsurge gradually, the President
said.
He said after Asad’s killing, in continuation of that Bangladesh emerged
as an independent country through the War of Liberation at the call of Father
of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“The supreme sacrifice of Shaheed Asad is a milestone in our history of
independence and democracy. . . His immense contribution to the country will
inspire the nation’s young generation,” the President added.
In her message, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the January 20 is a
significant day in the history of Liberation War of Bangladesh as student
leader Mohammad Asaduzzaman was killed in police firing in front of Dhaka
Medical College Hospital on this day in 1969.
The historic six-point demand of Bangabandhu surfaced as the way of freedom
when the people of Bangla had become perplexed due to discriminatory behavior
and atrocities by the Pakistani rulers, she said.
Sheikh Hasina said the then military ruler Ayub Khan implicated
Bangabandhu in a ‘sedition’ case known as the “Agartala Conspiracy Case”
being afraid of his popularity.
Shaheed Asad was the president of Shahidullah Hall Unit (Dhaka Hall) of
Dhaka University and General Secretary of Dhaka Unit of East Pakistan
Students Union.
To mark the day, different socio-cultural, student and political
organisations, including Shaheed Asad Parishad, have chalked out various
programmes that include placing wreath at the memorial plaque of Asad in
front of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and his grave at Shibpur
in Narsingdi.
BSS/MSH/SAS/SIR/KU/1839 HRS